Lake Bemidji

We stayed at the Hampton Inn on Lake Bemidji Friday through Sunday this weekend. It was a gorgeous view from the back of the hotel and we had a lakeside room, overlooking the beach. Amazing. The boys and I headed out to walk the beach after breakfast on Saturday morning and this is what we saw:

Hampton Inn from the beach side:

Boys checking out the water:

Birds took off when they took one look at the boys coming down the beach:

Big Bed

Carter is far too long for a pack and play. He has slept curled up at Mom and Dad's, unable to fully stretch out his legs. We decided it was time for a big bed up there, so we put him on Evan's air mattress and he slept nearly 12 hours? Fluke? We're not sure, but you can bet we'll test it out next time we're up there! Great job, Carter!

Jump

We took the dirt bike to my parents' house this weekend because we just don't have the space to let the boys ride it down here. My parents have 80 acres and a huge yard, the perfect spot for the 'toys'. We took the training wheels off since Kyle rides without them. I wasn't sure how Ryan would do, but after about 10 minutes of instruction from Evan, he was off and running. He rode for a long time without incident...and then I caught his first jump with my video camera. The timing couldn't have been better - my first video of the day!!!

I was a nervous wreck when it first happened. I ran over and asked him if he was okay. He shrugged his shoulders and said "yeah, why?" He dumped the water out of his boots, wrung out his clothes, and would have gotten back on if I hadn't insisted he get into dry clothes. Part of me loves that spirit of his, part of me is very nervous about when he starts to drive. He is fearless!!!!

Rainy Day

What do you do with not 1, but 2 rainy days in a row on vacation? Thankfully, my Mom had a few tricks up her sleeve. The first was a Nintendo Game Cube with 5 games that the boys had not played with previously. They loved it, especially Mario Cart and Luigi's Mansion. Next, we took her bedspread off her bed, put them on the dining room chairs, and sat inside our 'forts'. Last, we baked no less than 23 loaves of zucchini bread (8 batches) for the winter months. THAT'S what you do on rainy days at Grandma and Grandpa's house!


Evan and Kyle racing on Mario Kart:

Carter peeking out of his fort:

Hummingbirds

At best, I have 1-2 hummingbirds at a time at 1 of my 2 feeders in my yard. My Mom has about 7 or 8 feeders, all of them busy during the day, but most of all at dusk. It is nothing to watch 15-20 hummingbirds at their deck feeder, all trying to eat on the perches. She has a gallon feeder on the deck and can fill it daily during busy season. Now THAT is a lot of hummingbirds!

Happy 40th Anniversary Rich and Bev!

My Aunt and Uncle celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in style yesterday. It was a well-orchestrated event; it ran seamlessly, thanks to my cousin, Kim's careful planning. Here are a few pictures (of the 406 I snapped)! To see the full picture gallery on Shutterfly, click here. I have also created a video montage on One True Media - to watch the video, click here.

Shane, Kim, Olivia, Bev, Rich, and Noah:

Olivia, Bev, Rich, and Noah:

Bev and Rich:

Olivia, Kim, Shane, and Noah:

Evan, Steph, Ryan, Mom, Dad, and Carter:

Carter, Evan, Ryan, and Steph:

Ryan playing by the horseshoe pins:

Carter in the bouncy castle:

Ryan in the bouncy castle:

Ryan and Olivia (best of buds):

One of the many beautiful (and delicious) cakes:

The happy couple:

Fireworks to end the evening:

Laundry Room Floor

My Dad installed a new ceramic tile floor in our laundry room last week. It was the last vinyl (linoleum) floor in our house. I am not a fan of linoleum and after 7 years, I finally ripped it out. Well, we ripped it out. We started by taking out the appliances and thinking, we'll just take off the trim to help Dad out. Then I said "let's just start the floor for him." 2.5 hours later, and the floor was out. It wasn't too bad to remove, and the relief on Dad's face to see that linoleum piled in the garage when he arrived was worth it. The tile was nearly complete by Tuesday night and he finished the tile and grouted the floor on Wednesday. By Thursday I had my appliances back up and running again. Amazing how much you miss a washer and dryer when they are out of commission for a few days! Dad - I can't thank you enough for the fabulous floor - we love it!!!! and love you, too!!!

Disconnecting the appliances:

Old floor:

Removing the linoleum backing:

Ready for install:

New floor!